Individuals should be prosecuted for statements made on social media. One in three teens admitted to being the victim in cyberbullying. Individuals are physically and mentally injured when it comes to reading hateful comments on the internet that everyone has full access to. Cyberbullying can target anyone at anytime, right now at this very second, somebody is on the computer trying to make someone feel like they are nothing, and that should not be tolerated. “Cyberbullying can also lead kids to getting physically injured.”(The Dangers of Cyberbullying).Every 7 minutes a child is physically injured and dies within that very small amount of time. The thought that, the amount of time you use to take a shower, is enough time for a bully, caused through social media, to strike into action and kill the target. September 25, 2009 psychologist Eden Foster proposed a bill relating to cyberbullying and physical injuries. “This bill ensures that someone is held accountable for the behavior that led to someone getting hurt.” Showing such intolerable behavior should lead to a bigger punishment than just no more television time or no …show more content…
Suicide is the No. 3 killer of teens in the US” (Cyberbully Hotline). That number is too big to mean such a horrible thing. Cyberbullying is in fact known to give individuals headaches, health problems, lack of focus in school, and worst of all heartache. Nobody should have the right to say hurtful comments repeatedly that drives the target insane which later on leads to suicide. How horrible is it for the bully in court to say “My words cost someone their whole life.” The worst 7 words anyone can
The first reason why cyberbullies should be prosecuted is because victims of cyberbullying can be physically injured. In "Dangers of Cyberbullying", line 38 and 39, it states, "Cyberbullying can also lead to kids getting physically injured." Cyberbullying may not seem like somebody can get physically injured, it may just seem like mentally they will be hurt. Any kind of bullying can convince
“Cyberbullying is a willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices,” stated by the Ophelia Project. Individuals should be prosecuted for statements made on social media. One reason individuals should be prosecuted is because of physical consequences to the victim. Another reason is because of mental effects that cyberbullying can have on the victim. Even though some people believe that free speech allows them to say what they want to but individuals should be prosecuted because the first amendment does have a limit on what you can say.
First off, cyberbullies should not be prosecuted because there are more important matter to be worried about. Examples include murder and theft. Hurting someone’s feelings is not big enough to be criminally prosecuted. The radio interview “The Dangers of Cyberbullying” by Brett Warnke states, “shouldn’t the law enforcement officials be focusing on the kind of crimes that affect more people? Cyberbullying might seem somewhat trivial, as it only affects only two people: the bully and the victim.” Cyberbullying is very minor compared to actual crimes that affect more people. As Warnke states, cyberbullying only affects two people.
Cyberbullying is defined as behavior online that is “repeated, hostile, and severe with the intent to embarrass, threaten, or harass”, and it has become a serious problem. With the new popularity of social media and technology, victims of bullying have been finding it impossible to escape the onslaught of rude and embarrassing comments. Because of this, Congress has been trying to pass a law that states that people should be held responsible for the comments they make. Individuals should be prosecuted if the cyberbullying endangers someone's life, or severely affects the victim. First, cyberbullying can lead to embarrassment and shame, which can be amplified by the wide audience.
Cyberbullying is no exception to this statistic. The two writers also stated that “There have been several high-profile cases involving teenagers taking their own lives in part because of being harassed and mistreated over the Internet (Apollo, 2007; Halligan, 2006; Jones, 2008), a phenomenon recently termed cyberbullicide—suicide indirectly or directly influenced by experiences with online aggression,” (Hinduja and Patchin, 2007). These cases are not a constant issue in every school, but they have happened frequently enough to raise attention to faculty and parents. With adolescents being at such a sensitive age, it is important to remind them that the actions they take can have serious consequences, including
Since Teen Suicide is the second leading cause of teenage death in the United States, there is a need for legislation that promotes awareness and education about Cyber-Bullying.
By having cyberbullying grow, people are starting to make new laws and make it a federal crime. It’s a lot harder to get rid of cyberbullying, because there are so many social media sites where it can be found. With just a mean effortless tweet, comment, or message it can be a toll on somebody’s life. Statistics show that “20% of youth ages 11-18 have been victims of cyberbullying.” Most teens do cyberbullying, because they think it’s funny, or they just think that person deserves it, but what teens don’t get is what consequences lie
According to the Psychologist, Eden Foster, from the radio interview, “The Dangers of Cyberbullying" cyberbullying can cause physical harm and with a law prosecuting the tormentors, they would be held accountable for the harm they caused.
This sort of phenomenon makes major headlines regularly in recent times and effects a clear majority of today’s youth. State and local lawmakers have taken steps to prevent this type of bullying by making illegal under several criminal law codes. Michele Hamm, a researcher in pediatrics explained, “There were consistent associations between exposure to cyberbullying and increased likelihood of depression.” Cyberbullying became widespread among students with the rapid growth in use of cellular devices and the Internet. With this kind of technology bullies have the ability to send harmful messages to their recipients at any given time. This type of bullying is the hardest to control because it involves students but often happens off school grounds. However, because the evidence is material, students and parents could bring this evidence to the school and local police departments if a situation were to happen. Parents should be mindful of their child’s use of the internet and electronic messaging, cyberbullying usually takes place in a medium in which adults are seldom present (Mason, 2008). Also, instead of sending direct messages to other students, bullies use platforms such as social media and anonymous blogs to post harmful things for others to see. Educators must understand the significance of social media use to their students, especially
Cyberbullying is simply the use of technology and its accessible tools to harass, hurt and embarrass the targeted individual repeatedly. Stopcyberbullying.org (n.d.), a dedicated organization to prevent cyberbullying and promote awareness, has defined cyberbullying as the use of the internet and mobile devices or digital technology such as text or instant messaging, e-mail, and/or post blogging by adolescents or teens to repeatedly threaten, harass, embarrass, torment, humiliate, or likewise the targeted adolescent(s) or teen(s). The 21st century has promoted and forced our teens to become very knowledgeable with the use of technology in addition to social media use and access. The array of social media medium includes Twitter, Facebook, and the even low-key Formspring—a medium that offers “total anonymity” to users (Holladay, 2011, p. 5). Even though ...
The playground bully is a classic figure in the life of children. Shoving, pushing, pinching, name-calling, and dirt-throwing are some of its favorite pastimes. In the modern world, however, bullying is moving to another arena, one much more sophisticated and secretive than the jungle gym. Bullying that takes place online, or cyberbullying, is a growing area of concern among the younger generations. Recent events have thrown cyberbullying, rather unceremoniously, into the spotlight. After being relentlessly tormented online for ten months, Rebecca Sedwick, a twelve-year-old girl from Florida, committed suicide by jumping from the roof of a defunct concrete plant on September 10, 2013. Two teenage girls, Katelyn Roman and Guadalupe Shaw, both older than Rebecca, were charged with felony aggravated stalking upon further investigation into Rebecca’s death. These charges were dropped the week of November 18, 2013, with prosecutors unable to compensate for “a lack of evidence” (Kemp). The controversy over saddling minors with a felony charge caused quite a stir in the media. The correct response to cyberbullying is a growing area of contention. In some cases, criminalization is preferred, while other bullies are slapped on the wrist and grounded for a month. What can be agreed upon is the need for a definitive policy. Cyberbullying, as a burgeoning field of abuse directed specifically at teens, requires direct, speedy, and, perhaps even harsh, measures to curtail the stream of mistreatment flowing freely online.
Imagine being personally targeted and bullied by another individual constantly. Maybe never seriously injured but verbally abused in person and possibly online. The issue of cyberbullying can be quite pivotal in this new generation. Cyberbullying is a controversial matter that the world must address because of how it can occur anywhere at any time, causes harm to targeted people, and affects all associated parties.
Cyberbullying should be a criminal offense because whether it’s bullying or cyberbullying, it still damages a person emotionally and physically. Admittedly, many will argue that it is crossing the line to force perpetrators behind bars when it is not even bullying, but some foul words thrown in social sites. However, there is no difference between cyberbullying and offline bullying when it is still an issue that constantly eats away at its victims, abusing them with hurtful words and messages. “The United States Department of Health and Human Services calculated the percentages of bullied victims, where 37% of teens have been physically bullied, while 52% of teens have been cyberbullied” (Cyber/Bullying Statistics). Studies shown indicate that there have been more cases of cyberbullying than offline bullying, whereas people believe that “cyberbullying is not real bullying” and “it is to speak out in what...
The initial reason why anyone who cyberbullies should be criminally accused is due to their harmful behavior that can result in people getting seriously hurt both mentally and physically. If the bully is convicted, cyberbullying can be stopped! As directly stated in the Radio Interview of source one “Cyberbullying can also lead to kids getting physically injured.” This statement further emphasizes why the outcome of this act should be punishable by law. Due to the fact that individuals face violent behavior, it could mean suicide for the victim. In no shape or form should this be tolerated since lives are taken due to the
“First, many targets report feeling depressed, sad, angry, and frustrated.” (Hinduja and Patchin). These are just some of the bad effects that cyber bullying is causing for today’s teens. One of the worse effects of cyber bullying is the link between cyber bullying and suicide. “Finally, cyberbullied youth also report having suicidal thoughts, and there have been a number of examples in the United States and abroad where youth who were victimized ended up taking their own lives.” (Hinduja and Patchin). This alarming fact should be the wakeup call to the U.S. that we need to do something about this problem and fast. Cyber bullying simply does not just hurt someone’s feelings, but it is taking lives of our youth. The first step to help prevent this issue can be to have our schools inform the students of the dangers of cyber bullying. “Furthermore, school district personnel should review their harassment and bullying policies to ensure that it allows for the discipline of students who engage in cyberbullying.” (Hinduja and